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Monday, 26 January 2015

Tatty old white sweatshirt, sloppy old sweatpants, brush in hand and tin of gloss paint on the floor - it can only mean one thing. My hints about the faded white paint on the doors between our lounge and dining room have fallen on deaf ears and I've had to resort to a bit of 'do it yourself'.

Which was quickly followed by, 'it'll be quicker if we both do it' and voila! the job gets done. Finally. However, now all the other paintwork looks tatty in comparison ...

However, all that decorating after a busy morning at work meant I had well and truly earned some sewing time. So with last night's recorded 'Last Tango in Halifax' on the tv in the background, I was happy to continue with working out the placement of the squares for the next quilt.

Ours was a funny old weekend. Our son has finally found a flat to move into in London and he will be moving out in two Saturdays time. Our daughter completes on her house on Wednesday and this was literally probably the last time we would all be together for a family Sunday lunch for quite a while. (I am under no illusions, once J has moved away visits home will be few and far between!) So add to that we had mother in law here celebrating her 88th birthday, and P's cousin here too, it was a busy day yesterday! I think my sewing time was well overdue.

For J and his girlfriend it was a weekend of going through the boxes they brought back from Edinburgh, for R is was a weekend of getting all the bits and pieces she's bought for her house into boxes read to transport later this week, and for P and me, the prospect of reclaiming our garage/spare bedroom/landing from all the clutter that they have both been accumulating. It's going to be very weird just being the two of us here!How's your week shaping up?

Monday, 19 January 2015

Is it me, or is it cold in here? I've arrived home from work and the house feels really chilled. So I've put the fire on and Me on Monday finds me jostling for position with the dog.

She wins every time! It's been a cold old weekend around here, and although we had a few little flurries of snow on Saturday, it was only for about 10 minutes.

Did you have a busy weekend? The keen eyed amongst you may notice that there's been a hair cut around here. No, not Coco, she's not going to the groomers until Wednesday, it was me this time. I woke on Saturday with an 'it's time for a change' feeling. I've had about 4" cut off the back and it's into a bob style again.

There were long dog walks again on Sunday, with me wearing a warm, wooly hat to compensate for the lack of hair. There were muddy puddles to jump in, squirrels to chase, other dogs to sniff, tennis balls to throw and pick up(one day we will master fetch) and cats to glare at. I don't think I've ever seen Coco so muddy, from the tips of her ears, right the way under her tummy and all parts of her legs. Good job she likes going in the bath!

It was also a tidy everything up in R's bedroom weekend. She will get the keys to her house next week and she's been gradually buying things and storing in her bedroom. It was starting to look like the homeware department in John Lewis, so we boxed it all up and tidied it all and lo and behold, we could suddenly see the carpet again! I'm also still sticking with my 'apartment therapy' project and it was a bedroom blitz weekend. My bedroom has never looked so clean, uncluttered and tidy. I can't believe it is half way through and I've still managed to keep up with the daily projects.

It was a weekend of handing over baby quilts and starting a new one. This one has a canine theme. Let's just say R has bought a lovely new sofa for her new home and someone with a penchant for muddy puddles and rolling in unmentionable things will not be allowed to sit on it without something in between fur and fabric ...

Giving up a warm, welcoming wave to Sian, who introduced us to Me on Monday!

Monday, 12 January 2015

Blowing the cobwebs away. A weekend of catching up with friends who moved away, delicious meals at the local Thai restaurant, mother in law over for Sunday lunch, planning my next sewing project ....

And today? Well, today is catching up with chores after finishing my morning at work. Monday was always laundry day when I was little, and it's the same here today

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My son obviously has a secret hiding place for worn clothes as I can empty the washing basket at the weekend and then when I walk past it on Monday, it is full of his clothes. Where does he put them in between taking them off and putting them in to wash? More to the point, does he hide it on purpose? Just as I think there is no more to be done ... Surprise!

It's a chilly day here today. A day of comfort foods. Leftover roast lamb to mince up and make into shepherds pie. My favourite. Do you have a favourite comfort food? My guess is that if you are living in England, you're thinking about that comfort food today whilst keeping warm indoors because it's wild and wet outside!

Monday, 5 January 2015

I'm sulking. Can you tell I'm sulking? Back to school blues, just as bad for staff as it is for students. What's worse is that it's a CPD day. Which means hours of sitting on hard, plastic school chairs in a chilly, draughty school hall listening to presentations are that are primarily aimed at teachers and of no interest or use to support staff. Oh but it's hard to go back after almost 3 weeks away.But all good things must come to an end eh?

How was your first weekend of January? Ours was one full of good intentions. You see I signed up for 'Apartment Therapy'. I live in a house rather than an apartment but when it comes to lack of enthusiasm in housework, boy do I need therapy! It's a January cure - a simple task once a day for every day of the month and you should end up with your home 'under control, fresh, clean and organized'. That's exactly what I need after 2 weeks of constant comings and goings. This weekend's task was to clean/vacuum every floor in the house which happily coincided with us having friends over on Saturday night, so all the downstairs rooms would have been done anyway!

Good intentions too as far as eating more healthily too. All leftovers have gone, the only chocolates left are the ones no one likes and there is no excuse for over indulging. I'm trying to incorporate more drinking water into my life too. As I currently don't drink water at all, that's not going to be too hard I guess.It was also a weekend of dismantling trees and storing decorations away for next year, for getting the house back to normal and finding little bits of glitter in random places. Christmas is officially over here.

Time to get that sewing machine out again 😀

Giving up a big wave to Sian who got us all started on the Me on Monday meme.

Thursday, 1 January 2015

Well, hello 2015 - how good to see you! I disappeared off the blog radar towards the end of 2014, but I'm full of New Year intentions to be back again on a regular basis.

I can't justify or make excuses for my absence over the last few weeks, I simply ran out of time and energy and something had to give. There is a fine line between pre Christmas 'laid back and relaxed' and being disorganised and I fear that I may have crossed that line!

Can I ask a favour? If, in just under 12 months time you hear me agreeing to do a full on Boxing Day roast beef dinner for 17 people aged between 2 and 87, please remind me how tired I felt on December 27th! What was I thinking? We did have a lovely time though and it was worth it.

I've even got some crafting done this week. My sister gave me a fab little extra gift of a 'make it yourself' hat. It was a ball of wall and a pom pom and the instructions for knitting it were on the wrapper.

It was the perfect excuse for doing not very much for the next couple of days and I am thrilled with the finished hat.

I am determined to do more crafting this year and already have two projects in mind. My daughter's friend is having a baby in February and I told Rachel that I'd make her a small cot quilt so I've ordered the fabric for that and am looking forward to making something small and pretty.

Rachel's house purchase will go through at the end of January and I've promised her a dog inspired cover for their brand new sofa for when Coco is there at weekends. Hmm - end of January, better get a move on!

I also want to get all my friendship quilt squares sewn together soon, has anyone done anything with theirs yet?

I've missed joining in a few memes, and enjoyed having a bit of structure to my blogging month to make sure I put finger to keyboard on a regular basis so I'm intending to return to those very soon.

Tradition dictates that we have to take a family photo on Christmas Day, so that seems to be a good way to end this first post of the new year - Happy New Year from the Keyworth clan!

About Me

Living in Hertfordshire, UK. Married with two grown up children and an adopted cavapoo. Working part time as school secretary which gives me lots of long school holidays! I originally started this blog when I began scrapbooking but I have recently rediscovered my love of sewing and am currently obsessed with patchwork quilt making.

Thank you for visiting my blog! Since starting this back in 2008 I've discovered what a lovely group of people bloggers are and have made and met many new friends. Here's to many more years of blogging!